Who we are

What personal data we collect and why we collect it

Comments

When visitors leave comments on the site we collect the data shown in the comments form, and also the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection.

An anonymized string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to see if you are using it. The Gravatar service privacy policy is available here: https://automattic.com/privacy/. After approval of your comment, your profile picture is visible to the public in the context of your comment.

Media

If you upload images to the website, you should avoid uploading images with embedded location data (EXIF GPS) included. Visitors to the website can download and extract any location data from images on the website.

Contact forms

Information submitted through the site contact form is emailed directly to the website owner. We keep contact form submissions only for customer service purposes; we do not use the information submitted through them for marketing purposes.

Newsletter subscription forms

The newsletter subscription form collects only email address, and that address is sent to our mailing list at MailChimp. Our newsletter is sent only to people who have opted in via the subscription form and confirmed their subscription via an confirmation email. If you no longer wish to receive the newsletter, click the unsubscribe link that appears at the bottom of each email.

If you leave a comment on our site you may opt-in to saving your name, email address and website in cookies. These are for your convenience so that you do not have to fill in your details again when you leave another comment. These cookies will last for one year.

If you have an account and you log in to this site, we will set a temporary cookie to determine if your browser accepts cookies. This cookie contains no personal data and is discarded when you close your browser.

When you log in, we will also set up several cookies to save your login information and your screen display choices. Login cookies last for two days, and screen options cookies last for a year. If you select “Remember Me”, your login will persist for two weeks. If you log out of your account, the login cookies will be removed.

If you edit or publish an article, an additional cookie will be saved in your browser. This cookie includes no personal data and simply indicates the post ID of the article you just edited. It expires after 1 day.

Embedded content from other websites

Articles on this site may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, articles, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited the other website.

These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracing your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.

Analytics

We use Google Analytics to collect information about use of this site. Google Analytics collects information such as how often users visit this site, what pages they visit when they do so, and what other sites they used prior to coming to this site. We use the information we get from Google Analytics only to improve this site. Google Analytics collects only the IP address assigned to you on the date you visit this site, rather than your name or other identifying information. We do not combine the information collected through the use of Google Analytics with personally identifiable information. Although Google Analytics plants a permanent cookie on your web browser to identify you as a unique user the next time you visit this site, the cookie cannot be used by anyone but Google. Google’s ability to use and share information collected by Google Analytics about your visits to this site is restricted by the Google Analytics Terms of Use and the Google Privacy Policy.

Google Analytics employs cookies to define user sessions, which allows for the collection of data about how visitors are using the websites. Google Analytics uses only first-party cookies for data analysis. This means that the cookies are linked to a specific website domain, and Google Analytics will only use that cookie data for statistical analysis related to your browsing behavior on that specific website. According to Google, the data collected cannot be altered or retrieved by services from other domains.

You can prevent Google Analytics from recognizing you on return visits to this site by disabling cookies on your browser.

Who we share your data with

We do not share your personal data with anyone.

How long we retain your data

If you leave a comment or send an email via the contact form, your data is retained indefinitely. This is so we can recognize and approve any follow-up comments automatically instead of holding them in a moderation queue.

For users that register on our website (if any), we also store the personal information they provide in their user profile. All users can see, edit, or delete their personal information at any time (except they cannot change their username). Website administrators can also see and edit that information.

What rights you have over your data

If you have an account on this site, or have left comments, you can request to receive an exported file of the personal data we hold about you, including any data you have provided to us. You can also request that we erase any personal data we hold about you. If you have subscribed to the newsletter, you can unsubscribe at any time via the unsubscribe link at the bottom of each email. This does not include any data we are obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes or emails sent via the contact form.

Where we send your data

Visitor comments are checked through Akismet automated spam detection service. For more information about how Akismet uses data, see the Akismet Terms of Use.

The newsletter subscription form collects only email address, and that address is sent to our mailing list at MailChimp. For more information about how MailChimp uses data, see the MailChimp Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

Our contact information

Additional information

How we protect your data

Your personal information is contained behind secured networks and is only accessible by a limited number of persons who have special access rights to such systems and are required to keep the information confidential. In addition, all information you supply is encrypted via Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology.

What data breach procedures we have in place

We use the Wordfence WordPress Security plugin to monitor website traffic and prevent attacks. The plugin will also alert the website administrator of any unusual activity.